Storm Strategies

There should be a song: Learn, Forget, Remember.

By Audrey Thornborrow

We have Good Riddance by Green Day. We have Bad Day by Daniel Powter. There should be a song called Learn, Forget, Remember by someone like Alanis Morissette. We need a good theme song for 2020. One that is poignant, but still filled with a positive spin on all with which we have dealt. We have all gone through a lot in the last twelve months. We have experienced so much both personally and professionally, and we have all been challenged in ways we never could have imagined. We, as educators, know the power of reflection: reflection on our practice, our lessons, and our daily activities. American philosopher and educator, John Dewey, once stated, “We do not learn through experience...we learn through reflection on experience.” However, we also know we are insanely busy or feel incredibly rushed that we often do not take the time to fully sit and reflect as deeply as we would like or should. So this month, as a coaching team, we wanted to provide a space to acknowledge the amazing work SRR staff have done, the outstanding perseverance our students have shown, and the copious amounts of learning that have taken place despite so many challenges. We invite you to take some time to reflect, give yourself a HUGE pat on the back, and perhaps even chuckle at some of the lighter aspects of the past twelve months. Cheers to you all: Learn, Forget, and Remember.

Learn

When we sit back and think about all we have learned over the past twelve months, many of us immediately think about the technology: Zoom, Loom, Screencastify, Seesaw, Schoology, etc. But as we sit longer, we are reminded of other kinds of learning. These other learning gems show the importance of educators, the strength of students, and the power of teamwork. These are things that prove there is good in humanity and give us a warm feeling in our hearts. As speech and language pathologist, Karen Cash, states, “we are resilient, and we are stronger than we think we are.” As first grade teacher, Paula Lambaere asserts, “I have learned that my team is amazing, and we can do SO much when we work interdependently.”High school science educator, Zach Brown, shares, “I’ve learned to be more intentional in the classroom--what do students need, and what is the best way to cover it? How do I keep them engaged when I only see them a few days a week during hybrid learning?” All of those statements prove that when we put our minds to it and work together as a team, we can truly make a positive difference in education. And that is exactly what propelled so many of us into the field of education. We wanted to make a difference. Believing in yourself, working as a team, and being intentional are ways we can be successful in that endeavor.

Forget

If words such as “unprecedented”, “pivot”, “mandates”, and “social distancing” don’t make you cringe, you may have been living under a rock this past year. While we learned many things in 2020, without a doubt, there are many things we would like to forget. Remember that toilet paper shortage and all the panic purchasing? Yeah, let’s forget it. One SRR educator said they’d like to forget all the hours of TV they binged. I think many of us can relate. Tiger King….shudder. Those of us who enjoy being out and about with friends and family, like fifth grade educator Kelsey Bean, would like to forget “missing out on all the events, concerts, movies, weddings,” and other social gatherings that were cancelled or postponed during 2020. High school English educator, Maria Burnham, would like to forget the problem with finding masks that didn’t “fog up [her] glasses”. There are many things we would like to forget. We all struggled with some aspect of crisis distance learning and hybrid learning. It certainly pushed us out of our comfort zones and made us second guess ourselves, but we coaches hope you know you have succeeded. You have persevered. You have continued to be the amazing staff and educators you have always been. So while there are parts we’d like to forget--fear, worry, anxiety. Don’t forget that all of these parts have made us better and stronger. Duke Ellington once said, “A problem is a chance to do your best,” and you have done just that. You really have, and you should be proud.

Remember

English author, A.A. Milne, who wrote the beloved children’s stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, once said, “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”. He is right. Because of this, we can look back on the past year and choose to remember some of the great things that came about during such a trying time. One of our great educators proclaimed they wanted to remember “seeing students who did not excel in a traditional classroom excel in distance learning. It’s a great memory to keep in the forefront. What can [we] do to provide a classroom where [our] distance learning students feel comfortable too?” What a great question and a great thing to remember as we move forward. Many learned just how powerful tools such as formative assessment can be in informing our teaching and the ways in which we help individual students. Let us not forget these questions and resources. They are powerful even in the traditional classroom setting.

In addition to remembering the importance of knowing what works best for all our students, many of our educators who responded to our survey said they wanted to remember that kids are resilient. They can do amazing things. “Even in the midst of a pandemic, they strive to be their best self and surprised [us] with how resilient they are”. They are resilient and when we have high expectations and the proper support for them, they will always blow us away with what they can do. In a year where we are bombarded with people saying, “The kids are so behind,” or “They’ll never be able to catch up,” we can be assured that those phrases are false. They have already proven those statements wrong. They have made gains. They are not as far behind as people would like to believe. In fact, they are meeting goals and rising to the occasion. With hard work and dedication, high expectations, and scaffolding from our staff, our kids are doing great work and are transitioning back and forth with a resilience many adults admire.

Many also noted they wanted to remember just how important coworkers, friends, and family are. We do not want to forget to live in the moment and cherish the time we have with those we love. Related is the theme of the power of teamwork and how we came “together to help each other even though it was more difficult than it ever was”. And that is the crux of it. When we all come together with a common purpose of doing good, we, as a collaborative humanity, can do miraculous things.

It is always important to take some time to stop, sit, and reflect on our lives. It is especially critical this year. We have truly learned a lot. I encourage you to reflect on your own or join a small group. You can start with the three questions posed in our survey:

What have you learned in 2020?
What would you like to forget?
What do you want to remember?

Then see where your conversation takes you. It is a powerful practice, and you will not regret the time you spend reflecting.

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